Senator Warren - The Leader I Want To Be

I’ve always wanted to be a leader.

My favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle was Leonardo, because he was the leader. He gave the order, and he knew what was going on. I figured that if I could become leader in some way it would make me feel better about myself. Through music I found a way to lead, as a concert master in middle school and high school orchestra. It felt good to have a title, and a position, but I didn’t really understand how to wield this power.

One of my jobs as concert master was to set the bowings for the rest of the violins. Instead of taking this opportunity to help others, I would arrogantly change the bowings on the fly. It felt good to be better than others and to have a way that I could feel power, because in most other measures of power in our society, through friend groups, through success as sports, I had no power.

In high school, the seeds of leadership as a position of service were planted in my mind through my fascination of Gandhi. This combined with the stories of the oppressed through the voices of John Steinbeck, and Maya Angelou helped me begin to see that there was injustice that needed to be addressed.

Over the years, I continued to be a leader in my college fraternity, as a conductor, as a teacher, and now as a department chair. Each position, each step on this journey, I begin to see the flaws in our traditional ideas of leadership.

We think of our leaders as needing to be the “best” at something, the kind of person who can consolidate power by proving strength through acts of personal achievement. Leaders are supposed to be flawless. And leaders are supposed men, older, white, and taller than me.

I came to realize that I can’t be that kind of leader, and now I know that now this is actually a good thing. Every leader I’ve met who has broken the mold, who has pushed against our traditional paradigms of leaderships has slowly created a different model for leadership in my mind.

A leader is not the “best” at a certain skill. They see the best in others. They are wise for being open about what they do not know, and seek to learn to from others. These leaders create power by empowering others and through the devotion of those they have served create a place where they can continue help others fulfill their potential. Leaders apologize, see flaws as areas to grow. And leaders can look like all of us.

Senator Elizabeth Warren is this leader, and is the most qualified candidate to defeat the current occupant of the White House, and help our country grow through this current moment of tension and strife into a greater America.

Yes, there are policies of hers that I like but my support of Senator Warren is about what those policies and her actions prove about her leadership. It’s about bringing a leader into power who sees the flaws in all of us, but believes that we can do better. It’s about being a leader who speaks the truth, not through anger but as a way to force us to see things more clearly. It’s about changing who we see as leaders so that we can better see the strength in those who have so much to give. but are do not get a seat at a table because they don’t look like leaders of the past.

It's about a leader who truly sees all of us as being human and deserving of dignity and respect. 

I was drawn in watching her holding bankers accountable, inspired when she persisted and would not stop talking, and made hopeful through her campaign that we will see our way to bring back dignity, true strength, kindness, and empathy to the White House.



I want to be a leader like Senator Warren, and I'm looking forward to be led by President Warren.